Buddy Holly 1956

Buddy Holly 1956, hand-drawn portrait of Holly (with B&L brow-line glasses) playing his Gibson J200, the first time he recorded his songs at Decca Records, Nashville, TN on January 26, 1956, age 19.
The session were held in Owen Bradley’s Barn, known as the “Quonset Hut”, which is now part of the Sony Building.

Holly was an American singer, songwriter and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas, during the Great Depression, and learned to play guitar and sing alongside his siblings.

In 1955, Holly opened for Elvis Presley 3 times and in October that year, when Holly opened for Bill Haley & His Comets, he was spotted by Nashville scout Eddie Crandall, who helped him get a contract with Decca Records.

Unhappy with control in the studio, Holly went to producer Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico, and recorded a demo of “That’ll Be the Day”, among other songs. Petty became the band’s manager and sent the demo to Brunswick Records, which released it as a single credited to The Crickets, a name chosen by the band to subvert Decca’s contract limitations. It became the name of Holly’s band. In September 1957, as the band toured, “That’ll Be the Day” topped the US and UK singles charts. The song’s title was inspired by the John Wayne movie “The Searchers” where Wayne’s repeated phrase “that’ll be the day” became iconic.

Its success was followed in October by another major hit, “Peggy Sue”. Other hits: “Everyday”, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore”, “Love Me”, “Send Me Some Lovin'”, “Not Fade Away”, “Rave On!”, “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” and “Maybe Baby”.

Holly was very near-sighted and had to wear glasses… which was not considered “cool” in the rock and roll vibe. His B&L brow-line glasses were like the frames his grandfather would wear.
So in 1957, his Lubbock, Texas, optometrist, Dr. J. Davis Armistead came back from Mexico with a pair of heavy plastic Mexican Faosa frames. Holly loved them and they became his iconic look.
On February 29th, 1980, The glasses that Buddy Holly had been wearing when he died were discovered in a police file in Mason, Iowa after being there for over 21 years.

For the start of the Winter Dance Party tour in January, 1959, he assembled a band consisting of Waylon Jennings (electric bass), Tommy Allsup (guitar), and Carl Bunch (drums).
The tour began in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 23, 1959. The amount of travel involved created logistical problems, as the distance between venues had not been considered when scheduling performances. Adding to the problem, the unheated tour buses twice broke down in freezing weather, with dire consequences. Holly’s drummer, Carl Bunch, was hospitalized for frostbite to his toes (sustained while aboard the bus), so Holly decided to seek other transportation. On February 2, before their appearance in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a four-seat Beechcraft Bonanza airplane for Jennings, Allsup, and himself, from Dwyer Flying Service in Mason City, Iowa.

After the Clear Lake show (which ended just before midnight), Allsup agreed to flip a coin for the seat with Ritchie Valens. Valens called heads; when he won, he reportedly said, “That’s the first time I’ve ever won anything in my life.” Waylon Jennings voluntarily gave up his seat to J. P. Richardson (the Big Bopper), who had influenza and complained that the tour bus was too cold and uncomfortable for a man of his size.

The pilot, Roger Peterson, took off in inclement weather, even though he was not certified to fly by instruments only.
Shortly after 1:00 a.m. on February 3, 1959, Holly, Valens, Richardson, and Peterson were killed when the Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft crashed into a cornfield five miles northwest of Clear Lake shortly after takeoff. The three musicians, who were ejected from the fuselage upon impact, sustained severe head and chest injuries.

Holly was 22 years old.

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